YOUTH FOOTBALL: KYFCL holds annual coaching clinic

As the 2013 youth football season approaches, 63 Keystone Youth Football and Cheerleading League coaches convened recently at its annual coaching clinic held at the Scotland Community Center.

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By Lee Goodwin

Waynesboro Record Herald - Waynesboro, PA

By Lee Goodwin

Posted Jul. 13, 2013 at 11:00 AM

By Lee Goodwin

Posted Jul. 13, 2013 at 11:00 AM

SCOTLAND — As the 2013 youth football season approaches, 63 Keystone Youth Football and Cheerleading League coaches convened recently at its annual coaching clinic held at the Scotland Community Center.

At the top of the agenda was player safety and featured two speakers who discussed not only age-appropriate agility drills but how to recognize a sexual predator.

The KYFCL is adopting the new standard for Heads Up Football, a step-by-step approach to tackling being embraced nationwide by youth football programs and beyond.

The KYFCL spent time at its annual coaches’ football clinic on USA Football’s Heads Up program. Starting next year, the league will require its coaches to be certified, according to league secretary/manager Gail Crum.

“They spent probably about a half hour talking about concussions,” said Waynesboro Stallions representative Sam Dick. “They do that every year as a reminder. We already coach the ‘heads up’ approach to tackling. We have for years. They’re going to make every team get certified by next year.”

Dick mentioned warning signs of a concussion, including players complaining of a headache. “They can’t answer you right away, they don’t remember the hit. You don’t fool around with it. You get them looked at,” he said.

Crum said that by 2014 the league will have a player safety coach who will make sure every coach is aware of and is implementing the new HUF approach to tackling. With this new standard in place, she said, the league’s goal is to make football safer at every level.

The KYFCL is incorporating the national program into its coaching in a proactive effort to prevent injuries in youth football.

USA Football teaches a five-step method: breakdown, buzz, hit, shoot and rip. The steps are taught in the form of drills to “reinforce proper tackling mechanics and teach players how to properly tackle with a focus on reducting helmet contact,” according to the USA Football website on Heads Up Tackling.

From a former player

Crum said Ron Johnson, who played college football at Shippensburg University and professionally for the Philadelphia Eagles before his career was cut short due to a severe back injury in 2004, spoke about playing time for youth and showed coaches position appropriate agility skills.

“(Johnson) took everybody outside and showed us some neat warm-up exercises for the kids to do,” said Dick. “He had some ideas to keep kids interested and to make it fun and challenging.”

Johnson’s love of the game motivated him to work with young people. He worked at a juvenile detention center where he encouraged youth to get involved in athletics to keep them out of trouble. He later founded Ron’s Rising Stars, an organization that hosts football camps and offers health and nutrition counseling as well as other counseling and motivational services, according to the organization’s website.

Page 2 of 2 - “I do a lot of strength and conditioning with high school athletes in Philadelphia and the York area,” Johnson said. “I invited two of our campers to the clinic to demonstrate speed and agility drills. I was asked to come out and work on things we do in my football camp.”

Johnson said it’s important to teach young athletes proper technique early on so it will carry over into higher levels of the sport.

“I’m teaching things I was taught myself,” he said. “It’s the same for players in all positions, not just skill positions. I like to teach them early and see them move better on their feet, be quicker, faster and more explosive.”

Johnson said the key in coaching children is to “be creative. You have to learn how to communicate differently. It takes patience and more hands-on guidance. You have to walk them through and take more time.”

Recognizing a predator

The sobering topic of child sexual abuse, which made headlines across the nation after the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, was also given due attention. Retired Liberty Township Police Chief Jim Holler, an internationally known speaker specializing in child abuse investigations, educated coaches about the topic.

“We discussed some of the warning signs of sexual abuse, such as the child’s fear of certain places, like they loved football but now refuse to go to practice,” Holler said. “We also discussed watching coaches that want to be too friendly with kids, spending more time than normal with certain kids. This is a red flag and doesn’t mean anything is going on, but people need to take notice because it could be a sign of a molester.”

“I wonder sometimes who in my audience is a child molester,” said Holler. “There are more around than what you think. It’s scary when you’re thinking about it.”

About the KYFCL

The league consists of three divisions — Liberty (Gettysburg, Chambersburg, Shippensburg and Waynesboro), Federation (Scotland, Quincy, Mercersburg and Greencastle Falcons) and American (Fairfield, Greencastle Eagles, Hamilton and Fayetteville).

The league is comprised of four divisions: Varsity, mid-varsity, junior varsity and SMURF. Practices begin in late July and the regular season starts Aug. 24.